There have been some intergovernmental agreements in 2015 related to resilience issues such as the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, the 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development, Financing for Development and Paris Climate Change Agreement. In 2016, these frameworks had heavy influence on the UN and National government policies. There is going to be a 22nd Conference of the Parties Climate Conference in November in Marrakech which follows up the Paris agreement.

In the current era, there is enormous growth of urban population in the world. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goal 11 addresses cities and points out to make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable.

There are many problems arising due to increased urban population. Some of them are insecurity, increased residency in slums and informal settlements etc. The new Urban Agenda is going to set the road map for balance between development and urbanisation. This agenda will allow addressing issues such as inequality, climate change etc.

Good Practices

In South Africa, Tshwane city has experienced many extreme events due to climate change such as more frequent and severe droughts, hailstorms which have affected the economy of the city. The city of Tshwane Metropolitan has enacted and it acclaimed Green building bye laws which are a unique feature of the country. The adoption of these laws led to improvement in the energy efficiency of buildings. A City Sustainability Unit has been created along with a Climate Change Response Strategy. A Green House Gas Inventory and Vulnerability Assessment was conducted which lead to the Municipality focusing on resilient infrastructure to upgrade and relocate the informal settlements.
The Municipality has also developed the Green Economy Strategic Framework. It is also in process of finalising the Sustainability Financing Mechanism Strategy (SFMS) which aims at searching for funds for green projects (Kavanaugh, 2015).

The national and local taxation policies can change the public behaviour and environmental outcomes of human activities. Green Bonds Policy can increase the participation in green infrastructure investment. A “green bond” is differentiated from a regular bond by its label, which signifies a commitment to exclusively use the funds raised to finance or re-finance “green” projects, assets or business activities (ICMA,2015). Green Bonds can be particularly attractive to institutional investors and help to increase the green infrastructure. Green Bonds have been issued by cities like Gothenburg and Johannesburg. (O Merk, 2014)

Additional enabling policies and energy efficiency can also be a tool for climate resilient development. The European Energy Efficiency Fund (EEEF) which provides tailor made debt and equity instruments to local and regional bodies can be quoted in this context.

A strong national framework based on carbon pricing will make the urban environment better. Public sector financing is not sufficient for green urban infrastructure projects. Hence private sector investments need to be encouraged.
Resilience of cities should be built in the context of sustainability. An effective combination of policy instruments can lead to a sustainable urban environment.  ■

References:
ICLEI. (2015). Resilient Cities Report.
ICMA. (n.d.). (2015) Green Bond Principles Voluntary process, guidelines. Bloomberg Philanthropies.
Kavanaugh, E. M. (2015). Resilient Cities Report. ICLEI.
O Merk, K. e. (2014). Climate Bond Initiatives. Bank of International Settlements.